A SHOP owner has a message for the thief who stole a charity box from his shop.

Ken Boreham, who works at Velvet Sunrise in Braintree, was helping a customer when another man entered the store.

While in the gift shop in New Street, the man leant over the till area and took the charity box.

The shop was targeted at 1.40pm last Tuesday. A sign criticising the “lowlife” crook now sits where the box did.

It reads: "Here sadly is an empty space where our CHARITY pot once stood.

"It is empty because a complete [not suitable for publishing] stole it on 04/04/2017 at 13.40.

"Any information as to who this lowlife is would be very much appreciated.

"Please keep giving to our charity work.

"Many thanks, all at Velvet Sunrise."

A number of shops have been targeted across the district over the past couple of weeks.

Mr Boreham said: “I was busy serving someone at the other end of the shop and I noticed a lad come in, but didn’t pay much attention.

“He was standing near the area where the CCTV camera is, with his back to it. He just reached his arm out and put the charity box in his pocket.”

He said he was livid once he realised what had happened.

He said: “We were raising money for Mind and have done for the past two years.

“We are a shop, we expect the odd shoplifter, but to steal charity money is the lowest of the low. It’s kind people’s donations.”

To make up the stolen money, the shop is holding a cake sale on Saturday.

The staff are also taking part in a ten-mile walk for Mind, a mental health charity, on May 13.

Anyone with information should contact Braintree Police on 101.